Ghaziabad: Seven women and a man were charred to death while eleven women were injured in a major blaze at a makeshift factory manufacturing party poppers at Bakharwa village in Modinagar town of Ghaziabad Sunday evening. Taking cognizance of the incident, Uttar Pradesh chief minister Yogi Adityanath directed the district magistrate and the senior superintendent of police to rush to the spot and submit a report by Sunday night.
Officials of the fire department said the factory had a mass of hydrocarbons and manufactured items stocked at the complex which caught fire around 4pm on Sunday. Fire officials, asking not to be named, said the factory had no permission to operate.
Teams of forensic experts were roped in to ascertain the exact cause of fire.
“The CM has taken cognisance of the incident and asked us to conduct an immediate inquiry. We have found laxity on part of the local police post in-charge as he was prima facie expected to have knowledge about the operation of the factory. The CM has directed for compensation of Rs 4 lakh each to the families of the victims. I have also directed for a magisterial inquiry. An FIR will also be lodged against the person who was operating the factory and they will be sent to jail,” district magistrate Ajay Shankar Pandey told reporters at Bakharwa village.
Local residents, meanwhile, alleged that the factory was being allegedly operated illegally by one Nitin Chaudhary and his partner Momeen, and there had also been a police raid conducted about a fortnight ago but the operations continued unabated.
“There were no safety measures here and the factory had no licence. It was operating illegally. There were 25 to 30 women who were employed here as workers and even children used to work here. There was a raid at the factory several days ago but it continued operations. The local police had information of the operation of the factory,” said Bhupender Kumar, a resident of the village, alleged.
Following the incident, Ghaziabad administration and police officials rushed to the spot. Later, the residents blocked the way of ambulances which were roped in to ferry the victims to medical facilities and also raised slogans against officials.
“The residents demanded strict action as the factory operations had continued unchecked. My aunt had been working here for the past one year, supporting her family which had four children. She was given a job at Rs 4,500 per month. On Sunday, she went for work at 8am and later we found out that she had died in the fire. About 15 days ago, cops had raided the factory but operations continued. The land belongs to a villager and the factory is operated by someone else,” said Sahil, nephew of one of the victims.
“After the fire started, many women got stuck in the factory and an earthmoving machine had to demolish the walls to pull them out. The factory owner was manufacturing party poppers here while some work related to repacking the items was given to villagers at their homes. The owner had also roped in boys aged 15 to 19 years for distribution of goods to nearby areas,” he added.
Ghaziabad SSP Kalanidhi Naithani late Sunday night said: “The factory was illegal as we have found no documents or records of its operation or permission. There is laxity on the part of local police post in-charge. The villagers must have gone to him with verbal complaints and he should have informed senior officials but he did not. The circle officer and sub-divisional magistrate went later to conduct a raid, and the police-post in-charge was suspended after the incident,” the SSP said.
“In all, we have eight deaths including seven women and a young man aged about 18 years. The factory was manufacturing party poppers but these also had chemical components stored. This led to explosion and fire,” SSP added.
Sanjay Kumar, another resident whose wife, Geeta, sustained severe burn injuries, said she had been going to work for the past one month and was paid Rs 200 per day.
“Since I do wall painting work, which shutdown during the lockdown, I sent her to work at the factory. Her hands and face suffered burn injuries in the fire. At present, she is the one who has been supporting the entire family, including me and our three children,” he added.
Modinagar MLA Dr Manju Siwach also surveyed the spot. “The factory was manufacturing party poppers which are used for birthday celebrations. The work was going on illegally and explosive chemicals which were also stored, caught fire,” she added.
